Melanie Tuazon
The ART of IMPROV
I am so pleased to welcome artist Melanie Tuazon to The Art of Improv. Melanie Tuazon is a quilter and fiber artist whose process includes a spectrum of improvisation. She enjoys incorporating planned and unplanned design elements and techniques, which repeatedly use curves, skinny piecing, and beautiful handwork. Much of her work explores how modern domesticity, feminism and identity intersect within the context of quilting tradition. Before she started quilting in 2011 she was a journalist who wrote about creative people for trade magazines. After becoming a mother she was drawn to her own creative practice and the modern quilting community. She was president of the North Jersey MQG from 2013 to 2015. Her quilts have shown and won ribbons at Houston Quilt Festival and QuiltCon, where she was a faculty member in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
Taking Up Space Melanie Tuazon
Self Portrait Melanie Tuazon
What does working improvisationally mean to you? How would you define the ‘Art of Improv’?
Working improvisationally for me is about listening to my inner self when creating and making things that nobody else could make. I’m a quilter, and therefore there exist a lot of choices involved in my art process. Improv for me is about finding a point along the spectrum of choices made before sewing and those made while sewing, continuously assessing and adjusting. I have taught this framing as “Planned and Unplanned,” finding a personalized process that feels supportive but open to discovery and serendipity at the same time. For me, the “Art of Improv” is the practice of making choices that connect to inner voices, making them visible and tactile, telling their stories.
Have you always worked improvisationally?
In ways yes, in others no. I learned how to make quilts from patterns, but I found that I wanted to make my own designs using my own methods, and transitioned to improv as my skills grew stronger. As a child I was a terrible procrastinator and became very good at pulling something interesting together at the last minute, so I had experience with improvising in life. Quilting cured my procrastination by helping me to value craft and plan long-term projects, so I found a place to channel those improv skills in a healthier way.
Do you work improvisationally, consciously, intentionally? If so, how do you begin? If not, how do you find yourself getting there?
I use the spectrum of planned and unplanned elements in many ways, but the most useful one is by starting with a set of rules and improvising within them until I can’t help but break free. It’s like warming up a muscle until it’s conditioned to perform. In my most free and unstructured improv practice, I need to be in a very honest but dreamy place in my mind, and I get there by reading poetry, fiction, or listening to music. That’s how I warm up my improv muscles.
Blue Houses Melanie Tuazon
How often do you work with improvisation?
As much as possible. Since my improv process developed, I find myself delighted by the fact that the situations and choices that I make are uniquely mine. I try to keep my technical skills sharp, and I follow patterns for very special people, but I prefer to avoid knowing exactly where a quilt is going.
Please share a bit about your process. Do you have methods to getting started? Do you have tricks to getting unstuck? Do you have motivators to finishing up?
I always start with some kind of inspiration, whether it’s an idea, a fabric pull, or a technique/process. Then if I need more momentum I use making and breaking rules to find the improv rhythm for that quilt. I make blocks or slabs and arrange them on my design wall to see if anything looks off, or to guide the next step in the process. If I get stuck, my design wall is in a high-use room, so I take a break from making and look at it whenever I’m in that room until the next step makes itself clear. I don’t usually struggle with motivation because I use sewing as a daily practice and need something to work on. But sharing a finished product with the world is always exciting. I love the feeling of a finish and it pulls me closer as I get near. But I also find that I get the idea for the next quilt while the current one is near the end, so I’m usually excited to finish and start the next piece.
Where do you find inspiration? How do you use it?
I find inspiration in art that has layers of meaning. That can be literal, as in quilts, but I love how medium, technique, color, lines, subject, and intention can all work together to make a visual statement deeper. For example, my piece “Unruly” is about a feminine figure that is free from restraint. I was able to use improvisation to demonstrate the lack of regulation. I used curves for their relationship to femininity. The colors of the fabric were chosen to include skin tones of all shades. All together, the elements contribute to the intention and message of the piece.
Neighbors Melanie Tuazon
What advice would you give to someone interested in trying to work improvisationally. Can you share some good advice that you received that helped you become more comfortable this way?
I had a huge mental shift in my process when I started seeing my uniqueness and perspective as a strength. As a beginner I learned by emulating other quilters, as many people do, and I found that I could customize the process in ways that made me enjoy both the process and the finished product better. There was no need to do something the same way as someone else if it didn’t serve me.
How would you finish the sentence, ‘What if, . . .?’
What if everyone felt free to make art like themselves?
What is something you always say ‘Yes and. . .’ to?
Friends who share their creative process with me. I love breaking down the thought process and coaching them through the realization of an idea or method.
Unruly Melanie Tuazon